Into the “Big Smoke”
To launch a tight, multi-week schedule which my hosts Colleen and Bernie kindly assembled for me, showing off South Australia, this second full day in Adelaide included an agenda of Colleen's driving overview of the city, a lunch at the Central Market and a deep dive into a local millionaire's collections at an estate museum.
I did not optimize for weather when I came to Adelaide in the middle of June, at the start of winter. Life constraints plus a desire to skip the summer, 100-degrees-plus temps conspired to push me into a June start. While the Southern Australia coast and the Victoria/New South Wales southeastern coasts have cool weather now, it will be warm (~90 degrees F) in Darwin and north Queensland when I arrive there end of July. To add to that, it is a wetter-and-cooler-than-normal June in what was South Australia's previously-forecasted dry winter. I've seen TWO fierce hail storms, and many cool, cloudy, rainy days. Temps are in the low- to high-50's evenings into the day, which seemed manageable to this New Englander. However, houses are typically not centrally heated and energy is expensive, so inside a home only in actively occupied rooms are heated, often supplied by a split unit. Rooms are generally very cool, especially bathrooms where one spends short amounts of time. Coming out of a shower? Brrrrrrr.
So when we started the day at Windy ("wine-dy", named after a windy road) Point with the intent to overlook Adelaide and the coastal plain from the heights, we saw little. We weren't there very long and took no pictures due to fog and a squall coming at us across the plain.
We drove from the wooded Bel Air hills into the flat plain at the edge of the sea where Adelaide is situated. When the governor’s designated surveyor, Colonel William Light, arrived in the new state soon to become South Australia, he sought a perfect location for a town on the River Torrens. The flat coastal plain made it simple to superimpose a grid in advance of development. Adelaide is a true garden city, a grid of 4-ish longer blocks east/west by 10 short blocks north/south, and ringed by a greenspace roughly 1/3rd mile deep. There is an adjacent, planned residential district "North Adelaide" similarly bordered and now filled with mansions and elite institutions. The green space around the central district is separated into North, South, East and West "Terraces" to assist in orientation, and today each has a slightly different character. North Terrace is adjacent to the government buildings and state agencies; East Terrace includes universities and sports venues, South Terrace is passive parkland, and West Terrace (the least appealing as it is further from the climate-tempering hills) includes the original cemetery. Driving around, it feels like the green space may be equal in area to the built space in the developed blocks.
The plan for Adelaide is a true Garden City plan.
Credit: Light, Colonel William, Plan of the City of Adelaide, in South Australia [cartographic material] : with the acre allotments numbered, and a marginal reference to the names of the original purchasers / surveyed and drawn by Colonel Light, [Adelaide: John Gliddon, South Australian agent, 1840] State Library of South Australia, archive no. C 194.
First stop on my tour: the beautiful Himeji Garden in South Terrance, as created by Adelaide's sister city. It is a small but elaborate and beautiful Japanese garden.
There was a tent outside of the garden in the parkland, evidence of homelessness in the park, which surprised Colleen. She shared a recent occurrence: aboriginal peoples spending nights in the parks were chased out of the various terraces until they ended up in front of the Government House in North Terrace, appropriately within sight of the elected representatives best equipped to improve their situation.
Then we travelled to the Central Market, just off of Victoria Square park in the center of the plan. The market itself was fabulous, with beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses and butchers, fish and ethnic foods, coffee and organics. Everything was super-fresh, offered at reasonable prices such that office workers were there for lunch while downtown residents bought their groceries and tourist bought specialties. It would be so nice to live next door.
So much to choose from at Adelaide’s Central Market
Anyone for paella?
Ample counter service throughout the market
developers in south and western Australia. He never engaged in the business, preferring to use his vast inherited wealth to show dogs and collect beautiful objects that had meaning to him. Each collection or piece had a story that was artfully told by the tour guide and an hour-and-a-half tour instead was two. Every room was filled with literal treasures, priceless piece after priceless piece - Russian and American, French and British objects and furnishings from the 1700-1800s, offset with custom silk drapes, silk wall coverings and wool carpets, all perfectly combined and displayed in a way that that sang. David put those rooms together himself, and it's clear he was a genius. The on-going curation of a gallery space within the complex is also exceptional - an exhibit of modern tapestries by Arthur Boyd, depicting St. Francis’s life, is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. This house is an exquisite experience worth travelling halfway around the world for.
David Roche’s poolside decor
A lounge in David’s bedroom
One of a dozen Arthur Boyd tapestries depicting the life of St. Francis, roughly 7 feet high by 9 feet long
The day was concluded with a home-cooked dinner and an introduction to Jenny and Barry, neighbors and friends across the street from Colleen and Bernie. It was more conversation and exposure to what it is to be a South Australian. People here are kind and inclusive to a one; or, at least, Colleen’s and Bernie’s family and friends are.
Next: Willunga Market, the Farm, and an American expat
